Handling Illegal Interview Questions
Posted in Interview Questions
You may not realize it, various laws regulate the questions a prospective employer can ask you during a job interview. These laws state that an employer's questions must be related to the job you are seeking. The employer asks you to decide whether you can perform the functions that the job requires.
However, this is usually not followed by some companies, and more often than not you do not realize that a prospective employer is actually asking you some illegal questions. But what queries are illegal, any?
Illegal questions are trivial - Employers ask for unimportant information such as your height and weight, especially if this does not affect immensely on your job.
Illegal question are bluntly asked - These questions are asked in a getting-to-know conversational manner instead of a more professional approach. For example, "What are your child-case arrangements?" or "Are you a US citizen?"
If you encounter a prospective employer who uses illegal question, how would you handle it? Would you still respond? Or just refuse to answer?
You can answer the questions - You are free to do so if you wish. However, remember that you are giving information that is not related to the job.
You can refuse to answer - You have the right to do so. However, you run the risk of appearing uncooperative or confrontational, therefore making you a bad candidate. You need to be careful on how you phrase your refusal.
Examine the question's intent - You never know that what the employer asks you would most likely apply to the job your are applying for. However, if the employer delivers such questions with a certain bluntness, you might even feel offended. For example, if the interviewer asks, "Are you a US citizen," you can respond with "I am authorized to authorized to work in the United States." Another instance, when the headhunter asks, "Who is going to take care of your children when have to travel for a job," simply answer: "I can meet the travel and work schedule that this job requires."
